HABIB - released from US detention, but still "suspect".

Last Update: Sunday, July 17, 2005

Habib stands by torture claims

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has disputed the findings of a US inquiry into allegations of prisoner abuse there.

The US Navy has found no evidence of the mistreatment of detainees there.

Mr Habib has reiterated his claims that he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay, including through sleep deprivation and beatings.

He has indicated there were numerous others who were dealt with just as harshly.

"I can't say I've been treated very well," he said.

"There's nobody treated very well, there's nobody treated as a human being.

"They're treated as no humanity at all. And [the inquiry] is full of lie."

David Hicks's father, Terry Hicks, says he does not accept the US report's findings on the alleged abuses.

"The place they're being held in to start with is an abuse, the way they're being held, just not only the treatment that they've been through, so I don't know what Mr Howard's about there," Mr Hicks said.

"He says there's been no abuses and I do know there has been."

Mr Habib has been released from US custody while Hicks is awaiting trial by military commission after being charged with training with Al Qaeda.

In Washington, Prime Minister John Howard earlier released a letter from the US Defence Department outlining the investigation's results.

Mr Howard says he is satisfied with the findings.

"We have allegations of abuse, those allegations are investigated," Mr Howard said. "We have a response from the Americans.

"I have nothing to add to that except to remind you of the nature of the allegations that have been made about Mr Hicks.

"Let us not lose sight that these are very serious allegations."

Hicks faces three charges - conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.

The US alleges he trained with Al Qaeda, assisted the Taliban and fought US forces in Afghanistan.

Australian Guantanamo detainee looks to Britain for freedom

Mon Sep 26

An Australian terror suspect held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay has applied for British citizenship in an attempt to win his freedom, lawyers and his father said.

The British government negotiated the release of all nine of its citizens held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while the Australian government has refused to do the same for David Hicks who has been held for nearly four years.

The 30-year-old convert to Islam was captured in Afghanistan where he allegedly fought alongside the ruling Taliban against US-led forces who invaded after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

Hicks's father Terry told national radio on Monday that his son made a passing comment about his mother's British citizenship when talking to his US lawyer Major Michael Mori about the recent Ashes cricket series between Australia and England during a recent meeting.

Hicks said his son remarked that he wished he was British like his mother so that he could have supported the winning Ashes team.

"He said his mother still retains a UK passport and of course Major Mori nearly fell over," he said.

"[He] didn't realise that David probably could have the means of being released through the Brits."

Press reports here said Mori lodged Hicks' formal request for British citizenship at the British embassy in Washington on September 16. They said that under legislation passed in 2002, children of British mothers are now eligible for citizenship.

Hicks' mother moved to Australia as a child and divorced when David Hicks was nine. According to The Australian newspaper, she does not want to be named.

Asked whether he was embarrassed by the move, Prime Minister John Howard refused to comment.

"That's a matter for him," Howard told ABC radio. "I don't have any comment on it."

Howard, a close ally US President George W. Bush, has been criticised by lawyers and human rights groups in Australia for refusing to follow Britain's lead by pushing for Hicks' release.

Hicks is due to be tried soon by a US military commission on a series of terrorism-related charges, including attempted murder and aiding the enemy, which he denies.

Britain refused to allow any of its citizens to face the widely-criticised US military commissions, saying they failed to uphold basic standards of justice.

Terry Hicks said he hoped that if his son was granted citizenship the British government would negotiate his release.

Hicks's Australian lawyer David McLeod said the move did not mean that his client was snubbing Australia.

"David is not abandoning his Australian citizenship, far from it," he said. "He's simply seeking dual nationality off the back of his mother's British nationality."